Hiscox teams up with Google Cloud for AI-enhanced underwriting solutions

Global specialist insurer Hiscox has partnered with Google Cloud to develop the London Market's first AI-enhanced lead underwriting model, marking a significant step in integrating advanced technology into the insurance sector.

The project utilises Hiscox London Market’s technology platform, Hiscox AI Laboratories (Hailo), in conjunction with Google Cloud’s generative AI technology. This collaboration aims to streamline the underwriting process, transforming it from a manual operation that typically takes up to three days into an automated system capable of generating quotes within three minutes.

In a Press release from Hiscox, it was noted that Google Cloud’s BigQuery and Vertex AI platforms have been instrumental in this advancement, extracting essential data and insights from email submissions. The integration of AI into this process empowers underwriting teams to provide faster responses to clients.

The initial trial of this AI model was conducted in the sabotage and terrorism line of business at Hiscox. The principles established here are expected to apply to other lines of business within the realm of high-value insurance.

Kate Markham, CEO of London Market at Hiscox, highlighted the project’s potential to enhance the efficiency and speed of services provided to brokers and clients. She expressed enthusiasm for further development of the programme, indicating its initial success in automating certain business aspects.

“We chose this line of business because it involves a considerable amount of manual data extraction and analysis. Human insight is and will always be a crucial part of the specialist underwriting process, but when expertise is paired with cutting-edge AI technology we will be able to serve our customers even more effectively and efficiently - not only in this specific line of business but in many others over time too, and this is an incredibly exciting prospect.

“AI technology, deployed in the right way, has the potential to remove manual tasks from our specialist underwriters, freeing them up to focus on more complex risks where human expertise and analysis are a must,” Markham said.

Earlier this year, the specialist insurer also revealed that it is selling its business operations in Singapore and Thailand.

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